The family of a 27-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Cebu who died in Kuwait under mysterious circumstances is appealing to authorities to investigate the cause of her death.
The body of Denise Colleen Bolay-og, a resident of barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City arrived in Cebu yesterday. Several bruises, stitches and ridges were found on her body.
Her family believed she was whipped to death by her employer.
Bolay-og left Cebu on March 20, 2008 to work as a domestic helper for a Lebanese employer in Al Hawally Salmiya, Kuwait.
She left behind her two sons and husband.
Her mother, Kristine Ebarle said that after a month, her daughter complained of the abuses from her employer whom she identified as Allam Anton Marawan.
She reportedly told her mother that her employer would lock her up whenever Marawan would leave the house.
Bolay-og was not also paid properly and was not fed well.
But Ebarle said Bolay-og endured all the maltreatment for the sake of her family.
After almost 10 months, Bolay-og could no longer bear the abuse.
She confessed to her mother that she was molested by the brother-in-law of her employer, prompting her to run away.
Ebarle said her daughter’s employer called her up and told her about the incident. The employer wanted Ebarle to look for Bolay-og and have her returned to work. But her mother did not know the whereabouts of Bolay-og.
“He was so angry that Denise ran away. He warned that ‘I will see to it that she will not return alive to the Philippines.’ I told him that he should be the one to look for my daughter because he is in Kuwait. What can we do here?” said Ebarle.
She said her daughter’s employer continued to harass her on the phone and even boasted that he has connections at the Philippine Embassy and the Kuwait government.
After a month, Bolay-og finally contacted her mother and told her she was staying in a flat with other Filipino OFWs. She runs errands for them and they pay her for these.
Bolay-og told her mother she wanted to come home but it was difficult. She decided to wait for an amnesty and was scheduled to come home in July.
While waiting for her flight back to the Philippines, Bolay-og continued to work for her Cebuano friends in Kuwait. She would go out on her free day to buy things she could bring back to her family.
Ebarle said that in one of their video chats, her daughter even showed her the balikbayan boxes she was bringing for them.
But on May 14, one of Bolay-og’s friends called Ebarle and informed her of her daughter’s death. She was told that Bolay-og suffered a heart attack and was declared dead on arrival in a hospital in Kuwait. Ebarle was confused because her daugher had no heart ailment.
But she said her friends could not say what really happened and advised us to wait for her body to arrive.
She said her daughter’s Filipino friends were barred from telling the truth and had to remain silent, otherwise, Bolay-og’s body will not be brought home.
When her body was finally brought to Cebu, her family found that it bore several bruises and whip marks especially on her back and legs.
The belongings, which her OFW friends had sent with her body, still had price tags on it.
Ebarle said she believed that her daughter was still shopping and was probably abducted by her former employer.
“Mao gyuy akong hunahuna kay nibahad baya gyud ang employer nga naay mahitabo ra gyud sa akong anak (That was my suspicion because he had threatened that something would happen to my daughter),” she said.
Ebarle said that a few days before the incident, her daughter had told her that if something bad happens to her, she already knew the culprit.
Bolay-og’s husband, Sherwin said the last time they communicated, his wife had him promised to take good care of their sons and raise them well.
Sherwin did not recall his wife having health problems. He wants an autopsy on his wife’s body to find out if there was foul play involved.
Ebarle said she wanted the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct another autopsy on her daughter’s body to determine the real cause of her death.
“If proven that there was foul play, I want that Lebanese to be blacklisted by the government. I just don't want this to happen to other Filipinas and I want them to be aware also," Ebarle said.
Her body was sent late to the Philippines because the Kuwait government conducted an autopsy to determine the cause of the death. But the victim’s mother sent a waiver through an e-mail to the authories that whatever the result of the autopsy, she won't file any complaint. - Carine M. Asutilla, Ria Mae Y. Booc, Cebu Daily News, June 12, 2010
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